Kingpin West Side Drug Dealer Is Given 25 Years In Federal Prison

A West Side man who allegedly spent millions rehabbing run-down buildings with proceeds from his grand-scale drug operation was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison by a federal judge.

"On the scales of drug dealing, he's at the top," said Assistant U.S. Atty. James Conway, referring to Jonathan Penny, 58, of 1802 W. Adams St. "He was one of the biggest drug dealers on the West Side. Unfortunately, I'm sure there is somebody who has taken his place."

Conway said that law officers estimated Penny dealt some 40 kilos of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, that amount was small by comparison with what authorities charge was being dealt by others down the hall and by a group that has not yet been to court

In the court system, as on the athletic fields, it appears records were made to be broken.

Penny was known for his lavish home at Adams and Wood Street that was decorated with crystal chandaliers, Persian carpets, gold fixtures and a marble staircase, law authorities said.

Conway said Penny's home had hidden rooms where employees could "cut" drugs for sale on the streets.

But in another courtroom, Angel Rojas, Gustavo Arroyo, Manuel Garcia, Horacio Caballero, all residents of Mexico, and Luis Luna, of El Paso, Texas, and Guillermo Olivares and Bernard Wilson, both of Rockford, sat in chains in the jury box before U.S. District Judge Edward Bobrick.

After a daylong hearing, they were ordered held without bond in the Metropolitan Correctional Center for conspiracy charges they face after authorities allegedly tied them to a 350-kilo cocaine cache that was confiscated in Rockford by Drug Enforcement Agency and Northeastern Metropolitan Enforcement Group officers.

The undercover officers in Rockford arrests also had been told an additional 1,000 kilos of cocaine would be brought into the area, Assistant U.S. Atty. Frank Lipuma said.

"We have a drug transaction involving 350 kilograms of cocaine, an enormous amount of cocaine, that is to be introduced into our community," Bobrick said when making his ruling.

And at police headquarters, police and FBI agents announced the arrests of four people who have been charged with possessing or conspiring to deliver more than 900 kilos of cocaine.

The drugs in that case were found inside a panel truck and at a truck rebuilding business, police said.

Candelario Baiza, Shirley Thompson, Ezequiel Ceniceros Gutierrez and Eliseo Miguel Ontiveros were named in a criminal complaint on charges of trying to manufacture, deliver and distribute more than 900 kilos of cocaine.

Federal authorities said in the complaint they found 38 kilos of cocaine and $25,000 in cash inside Cal's Truck & Auto Body Shop, 8451 S. South Chicago Ave., after they secured a search warrant for the building.

When authorities searched a panel truck that they had seen two of the men drive onto the lot, they found 900 additional bricks of white powder inside the truck.

If convicted, most of the defendants face mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years and maximum terms of life in prison.